Page 24 of Somewhere Only We Know
Every fiber of my being wants to take her in my arms and let her fall apart. To let me be the one to catch her as she breaks. But Jax is tense. She doesn’t trust me. She’s like a Jenga tower one move away from crumbling. We barely know each other anymore. So despite my need to comfort her, I make the choice to stay still until I can no longer hold myself back and need to leave.
“Do you still have the same number?” I ask and hope she does because I’ve had it memorized for ten years.
She gives a nod of her head and I think that’s all I’m going to get from her. I should be lucky to get anything.
“Okay.” I say and put an earbud back in and start walking backwards. The bill of the hat she has on shades her teary eyes so I can’t tell if she’s looking at me or to theside of me. When I get a good enough distance from her, I turn and run back home.
Kamryn said to fight for Jax. But she never warned me that this fight could be unwinnable.
14
JAX
COLLEGE, SUMMER BEFORE SENIOR YEAR
“Come on, Jax baby. You’re not gonna win this,” Nate taunts as we play best out of five games of pool.
I chalk up my pool stick and round the table, finding the best spot to sink another striped ball. When I find the best spot to go, I get into position and line my stick up. My eyes flicker up to Nate and his eyes darken as my tank top gapes in the front revealing the skimpy lace bralette I’m wearing. Smiling to myself I rear the stick back a couple of times and hit the cue ball, watching as it hits the striped ball with a small tap and sinking it into the side pocket.
“Woo hoo!” I stand up and cheer with a dance as I round to the other side of the table. “What was that you were saying, Natey baby?”
Since baseball ended, we’ve been spending our time doing what most college students do when they don’t have jobs: hanging around my parents house, playing pool, and letting the sun crisp us up. Nate is headed home for a couple of weeks and I’m dreading the silence around here. Kamryn’s living with Liam so she’s barely around and I don’t have many friends from college that I can call up. Those thatI do hang out with are girlfriends of Nate’s teammates, but those are proximity friendships and nothing substantial. Having no friends never bothered me until the possibility that Nate won’t be here forever started to haunt me.
He sighs heavily and tilts his head down at me. “Don’t be a sore winner, Bee.”
“I haven’t won yet,” I gloat and find the spot where the eight ball is at. Determining my next move, I call it. “Eight ball, corner pocket.” When the eight ball sinks in the pocket, I don’t gloat, I don’t cheer. I simply set my stick on the table and bit my lip on the inside as I watch Nate. His furrowed brow and narrowed gaze is on the pocket where the ball disappeared to. And when he realizes he can’t will it back out so that I miss and he gets a chance, he sets his stick on the table with a sigh.
“This is what I get for challenging you.”
“I’m so glad you’re admitting defeat,” I say with a smile.
“It’s not my fault you have a whole arcade in your basement,” Nate whines.
I smile and shrug. My parents had the basement finished a few years ago and throughout that time added all their favorite arcade games along with the pool table. It’s one of the things that I’m hoping will keep me occupied until Nate comes back up here for school. On the other half of the room is a small theater that’s slowly getting broken in with the movies we’ve been watching this past week.
Nate walks over to the small couch and pats the spot next to him. Gladly, I walk over to him and drape my legs over his when I drop on the cushion next to him.
“Are you ready to see your family?” I ask and gently squeeze around his neck, massaging the area until he relaxes.
“Yeah. Plus, my sister is begging for me to take her to the water park.”
I smile just imagining them there and her dragging him all over the place. “Is it weird having a sibling so much younger than you?”
“It was at first. But now Kayla is like my small, broke bestie that tags along when I have errands to run,” Nate says with a warm smile. “When we graduate next year, you’re coming with me for a visit.”
I nod fast. “Yes. And then you’ll have two girls teaming up on you.”
He drops his head back on the coach with a groan and a laugh mixed. “I take it back. You can’t visit.”
“No way!” I start and move my fingers to tickle his sides.
He squirms and holds my hands in place. “Mercy.”
“I’ll accept it,” I relent. “So we’re for sure planning for the future?” I ask, rounding back to that.
“Yes. And I hope that doesn’t freak you out.”
I bite my bottom lip and shake my head. “What about the draft?”
